Image of the Week: Blacksmith Lee Beckwith, Weybridge, Vermont

When you're shooting on location, the location is your studio, an overcast sky is your softbox, and whatever structure you can find is your background.

Cloudy skies provide beautiful, directional, even light that fills in under brow ridges and chins. However, it's often difficult to get separation between the subject and background unless you can find a background in different light than your subject. One sure-fire method is to frame your subject inside the doorway of a building and let the light falloff into the building interior provide the dimensionality you seek. In this photo, a window on the other side of the barn provides a low-intensity, textured gradient of light across the floor.

Pay attention to your surroundings when on location, because very often you'll find natural lighting conditions that'll trump your roller case full of lighting gear.

Have questions or comments? Send me an email.

Technical Data

Blacksmith Lee Beckwith, Weybridge, Vermont was photographed with a Hasselblad 500CM and a Carl Zeiss 80mm ƒ/2.8 T* lens on Kodak TMax 400 (TMY-2). The exposure was 1/125 second at ƒ/8.

Other Images of the Week

Moonrise and Abandoned Trailers, Anza-Borrego Desert, California UVM Mallory, Morgan Horse Farm, Weybridge, Vermont, Palladium Print Abandoned Cabin, Anza-Borrego Desert, California Melissa and Parker, Columbia, South Carolina Old Stone Row in Winter, Middlebury, Vermont Worth Mountain Ski Lift in a Snowstorm, Middlebury College Snow Bowl, Green Mountains, Vermont Farmer and Pilot Ed Peet, Cornwall, Vermont Birches, Middlebury, Vermont
Mountain Palm Springs, Anza-Borrego Desert, California Bullseye, Citronelle, Alabama Lunging UVM Orlando, Morgan Horse Farm, Weybridge, Vermont Barns IV, Middlebury, Vermont Fallen Tree in the Creek, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Blacksmith Lee Beckwith, Weybridge, Vermont Snow Angel, Middlebury, Vermont Slack Line, Middlebury, Vermont
Coffee Splash Barns III, Middlebury, Vermont Beulah in the Carrizo Badlands, Anza-Borrego Desert, California Chapel of the Transfiguration, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Cross-Country Runner Alexandra Krieg, Middlebury, Vermont Horse Bath, Morgan Horse Farm, Weybridge, Vermont Whitney, Citronelle, Alabama The North Window from Turret Arch, Arches National Park, Utah
Jeff, Middlebury College, Vermont Hostas II, Middlebury, Vermont Hikers in Coyote Gulch I, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah Ocotillo Shadow, Abandoned Cabin, Anza-Borrego State Park, California Moonlit Palms, Anza-Borrego State Park, California Park Avenue, Arches National Park, Utah Ashton and Whitney, Citronelle, Alabama Steven
Halladay Road III Fall colors and ivy-covered wall, Middlebury College, Vermont Maple Tree, Middlebury, Vermont Jesse Hamner at Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone NP Aon Center from Millenium Park, Chicago Mountain Biking I Boulders II, Canyonlands National Park, Utah Hosta Leaves
Joe The Pour Skylar

Blacksmith Lee Beckwith, Weybridge, Vermont. Click on image to view larger.

Purchase a Fine Art Photographic Print

Blacksmith Lee Beckwith, Weybridge, Vermont is available as an 11"x12" archival pigment print, matted to fit an 16"x18" frame. Each print is signed by the photographer and is accompanied by a display, care, and conservation document detailing the process behind the photograph.